Monsters Strike Back
by Knuckx117
Summary: A party of powerful maplers manages to kill a Jr. Barlog, causing the dungeon monsters to attack the surface. Will they destory Victoria Island as we know it, or will the maplers defend their home sucessfully? Based off the oMS event of the same name. R
1. Prologue & First Strike

A lone snail wandered the dungeon at the center of Victoria Island, not knowing what was going on around it. A Drake snuck up behind it, grabbed it in its claws, and crushed its shell. It popped it into its mouth and chewed for a few seconds before swallowing. It sighed heavily, and turned to a nearby Wild Cargo.

"Its getting kind of dull down here," said the Drake, sighing heavily.

"I know what you mean," responded the Wild Cargo, "We've been eating nothing but snails and cold eyes for the past two months, and we don't have anything to entertain ourselves except watching the Tauromacis and Taurospears argue over whose weapon is more attractive."

Tauromacis and Taurospears were massive creatures with the head of a bull and the body of a man, similar to the Minotaur from Greek mythology. Tauromacis had a long spear-like weapon with a crescent moon shape at the end, and Taurospears had regular spears. They guarded the cursed sanctuary where the dreaded Jr. Barlog lived.

Very few travelers made it that far, and those that did make it past the Tauromacis/spears had the honor of being killed by the Jr. Barlog. Most of the monsters were perplexed as to why travelers would want to travel so far into the dungeon, just to meet a gruesome fate.

"We need something exciting to happen around here," said the drake, looking around for more snails.

"I know," agreed the Cargo, "But what?" They pondered this for quite a while, the silence being broken only by the periodic crunch of a snail being eaten, and the hissing of the ice geysers, which went off at regular intervals. Suddenly, a deep booming voice echoed through the dungeon, much like an intercom would echo through a gymnasium.

"**All monsters are to report to the Cursed Sanctuary for an emergency announcement!**" it echoed.

"I wonder what he wants," asked the Cargo, slowly proceeding to the Cursed Sanctuary.

"I dunno," responded the Drake, "It must be important if he's calling us himself." They continued to talk about this all the way to the Cursed Sanctuary, where the Jr. Barlog waited, flanked by two Crimson Barlogs. All the monsters gasped, and started to mutter amongst themselves.

"**Silence!**" roared one of the Crimson Barlogs, and the dungeon immediately quieted down. The Jr. Barlog began to walk back and forth in front of the monsters.

"As you know," began the Jr. Barlog, "You are the strongest monsters in the dungeon, and you should be proud of that. However, travelers coming here in search of a challenge have managed to kill my brother." The monsters started to murmur for a few seconds before quieting down again. "Whoever has done this must pay!"

"But we don't know who did it," shouted a Wild Cargo, "If we can't find who did it, they may come back and cause another catastrophe. We'll never be safe again!"

"Calm down everyone," assured the Jr. Barlog, "Nothing to worry about, just a minor complication. Besides, I have a plan to get revenge on the humans."

"You do?" questioned another Wild Cargo.

"We're not going to let them come to us," responded the Jr. Barlog, "We're going to go to them." Several of the monsters roared in agreement. "We have been beaten, burned, slashed, stabbed, frozen, poisoned, shocked, and blinded. But we have been abused for the last time. The time is right, and nothing will interfere with our plans!" The monsters all roared in agreement. "We attack tomorrow!"

_**In the Perion Department Store…**_

"…and your total comes to 37,460 mesos." said the shopkeeper. The warrior handed over a bag filled with coins, and the shopkeeper handed over a bag containing various potions.

"Thank you," said the warrior, taking the bag of potions.

"No, thank You," responded the shopkeeper. The warrior walked out of the potion store and emerged into the cliff top town of Perion.

Perion was a warrior town where soon-to-be warriors could get training from Dances with Barlog. The warrior looked around, as though searching for something.

"Come on, Knuckx!" shouted a cleric from about fifteen feet away, "The Burnt Land looks relatively empty."

"Coming, Meg," responded Knuckx, hurrying over to her. "I want to find a good spot just as much as you do." They both hurried to the bottom of the town, where they found a doorway with an inscription running along the top of it. It read _To the Dungeon_. After passing through it, they started to make their way down the series of cliffs and platforms, slaying any monsters that got in their way.

The entrance to the dungeon was so high up, that looking down from the top would give you a sense of vertigo. They were about halfway to the burnt land when Knuckx held out his hand, making Megan stop as well. "Shhh… listen. Do you hear it?"

They both put their hands to their ears, trying to find some interruption among the tranquility. Then they heard it. The faint, but unmistakable sound of claws scratching at a wooden door. Then a few thundering footsteps rumbled through the ground.

"Move out of the way," growled a fiendish voice, "Let me handle this!" All was quiet for a few seconds, then the door to the dungeon exploded into a thousand pieces, showering everything with wooden shrapnel.

The security guard was woken up by this loud racket. As he readied his studded pole-arm, the Crimson Barlog emerged from the remnants of the doorway. The security guard looked up at the nightmarish creature that stood in front of him, and slowly began to back up, quaking in fear.

"Oh my god…" gasped Megan, "It's the Crimson Barlog,"

"It is?" asked Knuckx, a slight hint of fear in his voice. He peered over the edge, and saw the Crimson Barlog standing in front of the now terrified security guard, who had dropped his weapon.

"Where can I find the town of Henesys?" growled the Crimson Barlog.

"K-k-keep going south," stammered the security guard, "A-a-a-and you'll f-f-f-find Henesys."

"Thanks," responded the Barlog. "Listen up everyone! We're going to split up! I'll take half of the Cargos and take Perion. The other half of the Cargos will go with some Tauromacis and invade Sleepywood. My brother will go with the Jr. Barlog and the Drakes to go torment Kerning City. Everyone else gets Ellinia and Henesys. If anyone tries to interfere, don't allow them to live."

He surveyed his minions with his beady eyes. "We will not allow anymore of these pathetic humans to abuse us any longer!" Above them, Knuckx and Megan watched in horror.

"We have to warn everyone!" whisper Megan, "Otherwise we won't have enough time to gather the power needed to defend the towns against this kind of power."

"There is a way," responded Knuckx, a determined look on his face, "We'll each warn two of the towns." He reached into his bag, and rummaged around for something. He eventually pulled out a vial containing red liquid. "I'll warn Perion and Kerning, and you warn Ellinia and Henesys." Knuckx opened the vial and drank the contents on one gulp.

"This speed potion should give me enough speed to make it to Kerning City in time. Do whatever it takes to beat the monsters there. If they manage to get to Henesys before we do, we're screwed." The two then ran off to their destinations.


	2. Planning

About 2 hours after Knuckx and Megan had found out about the impending attack, they met up at Henesys, along with Athena Pierce, Dances with Barlog, Grendel the Really Old, the Dark Lord, some of the stronger people on Victoria Island, and some friends of theirs, so they could discuss the attack.

"We have live here on Victoria Island," began Grendel, "For as long as we have been able to defend ourselves against the monsters that live here along with us. We are protected from the strongest of monsters by the Victoria Guardians, which consists of the ten strongest people on Victoria Island."

"Even so," responded a purple-haired wizard, "New lands are being discovered, and along with these new lands comes new monsters."

"Very good point," commented Grendel, "And your name would be..."  
"Chrissy," finished Chrissy.

"Ahh, yes," said Grendel, "One of my fastest learners. Mastered the first book of spells faster than anyone else in your class, as well as fastest to move on to the next set of spells."

"How are we going to combat these stronger monsters?" asked a random hunter, "Most of us aren't strong enough to combat this new threat."

"Persistance, Andy," reminded Athena, "There are two important keys to surviving any threat. Teamwork and persistance. Without either one of those, you will all fail."

"Okay," said Dances with Barlog, "Here's what we'll do..."

_**About 15 minutes later...**_

Once Dances with Barlog was done discussing the plan, the group broke up. Only a small group of friends remained together. A fighter, a spearman, a fire wizard, an assassin, a cleric, and a bandit.

"I still don't really understand why the Crimson Barlogs would want to attack the surface," said Knuckx, scratching his head.

"What I want to know," responded Chrissy, "Is why someone would **want** to go and attack the Jr. Barlogs that live in the Cursed Sanctuary."

"Maybe they were the only monsters left on Victoria Island that would pose a challenge," answered Megan.

"Seems logical enough," inserted Faust, "At least... for a few seconds it did anyway..." Everyone sat down on a nearby bench to rest and think about what they would do with the remaining hours they had left before all hell broke loose. Knuckx's eyes began to wander around Henesys, looking for something to look at. His eyes eventually fell upon Faust, who was staring at him dreamily. Shuddering slightly, he poked her to get her out of her stupor.

"...Buh?" muttered Faust, looking around confusedly.

"You were staring at me..." responded Knuckx, "In a way I can't describe with words..."

"Oh," mumbled Faust, blushing slightly in embarrasment, "Sorry," She turned away, and Knuckx turned around to admire the beauty of Henesys' architecture.

_**Faust's P.O.V.**_

After turning away to hide my face, I heard Knuckx mutter something under his breath. I've had a crush on Knuckx ever since I met him in the Perion weapon store. I would do anything for him. As I looked back, I saw that he had gotten up to go talk to Megan. I looked at the two of them for a moment, then it hit me. Knuckx was in love with Megan and, from what I could see, she loved him as well. From that point, I made a vow to do anything to win Knuckx's heart.

My first assumption was that he loved her because she was a cleric. Clerics could heal people. And with the upcoming attack, people needed all the clerics they could get, which would in turn, cut down on pot usage. Less pots to buy would mean that they would have more money to spend on better and more expensive equipment and armor. That better equipment would allow them to last longer in battle, which would cut down on pot usage even further. Basically, it was a never-ending cycle of mesos. I continued to think about this until I eventually fell asleep on the bench.

_**Knuckx's P.O.V.**_

While I was talking to Megan, I turned back to Faust for a moment to find that she had fallen asleep on the bench, Mithril Pole Arm laying on the ground next to her. I knew that she had had a crush on me since we met in the Perion Weapon store, but I just couldn't tell her that I loved someone else. I chuckled a bit, then turned back to Megan.

"Is there anywhere special you'd like to visit?" I asked her.

"I've always wanted to visit Florina Beach," responded Megan, "But I've never had the time to make the trip there."

"Well, I have some free time," I said, "So I was thinking that we could visit there this evening, and enjoy the beauty of it."

"I would love that," said Megan cheerfully.

"Just the two of us," I told her, putting my arm around her shoulders, "White sand, the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, and the sounds of the natural wildlife."

"Sounds romantic," said Meg.

"It is," I said, and I pulled her into a hug.


End file.
